Ink, Sand and Enthusiam
by The Black Rosette
Summary: A female cell of three girls are trained by Kakashi for a while while team 7 go on missions. As the three girls are introduced to more people, many friendships are made, some go even further... Naruto Shippuden three way OC story, the other parts are being written by TeddyTan and Blue bot soon. Sai/OC Gaara/OC and Lee/OC
1. Prologue

"Kakashi."

"Yes Lady Tsunade?"

"While Naruto's away, you are to train another cell." Lady Tsunade orders.

_This is shocking, why would I have to train another cell? All of the graduates have teachers, so why would Lady Tsunade ask me to train another cell?_

"This cell has already become better than their teacher, so I am asking you to help train them further."

"May I ask, how old are these shinobi?"

"Two of them are close to turning 16 and one has just turned 15." Tsunade answers.

"Are there any special abilities or things that I should know about?" Kakashi asks. Tsunade sighs, leaning back in her chair.

"They are an extraordinary cell; all of their skills complement each other. Komatsu Lin specializes in taijutsu and has a blood styled kekki genkai, Michiyo Kuroda who has one of the legendary swords of the seven ninja swordsmen and is skilled in jutsu, and Miharu Sakamoto who has wings that she can grow and uses weapons and jutsu, she workes well as a spy over anything else. It will be a real challenge for you Kakashi." Tsunade explaines, handing Kakashi the three files on the girls.

"Thank-you." Kakashi says taking the files.

"You will meet them tomorrow at the training field, that is all Kakashi." Tsunade says turning her chair around to look out the massive window as Kakashi walked over to the door to let himself out.

_This sure will be interesting; I wonder how strong they really are._ Kakashi leaves the Hokage's office and bumps into Shizune in the hallway. She looks quite surprised when she sees the files that Kakashi is carrying.

"So you're training that cell Kakashi?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade just assigned them to me." Kakashi replies holding the files up.

"They work pretty well as a team, and as individuals, it will be quite a challenge, especially with Miharu Sakamoto with them. She is quite a smart and interesting girl." Shizune comments, pointing to Sakamoto's file amongst them. "Quite a sad story though..." She mutters

"Thank-you Shizune, but how did Michiyo Kuroda get one of the legendary swords?" Kakashi asks Shizune, showing her the picture on Asuka's file.

"Michiyo originally hailed from the village hidden in the mist, but she moved over here quite a while ago. She was put in the interrogation unit for quite a while, she was totally honest, and she wasn't acting as a spy or a criminal. She was cleared through and moved into the village." Shizune explains to Kakashi.

"Komatsu Lin has the ability to change the blood flow around the body, and also gather enough blood in an area to push through the skin like a cut or graze. She can't stop the heart entirely but she can stop it enough for somebody to pass out for a while. Excuse me Kakashi, I have a few things to discuss with Lady Tsunade."

"Thank-you Shizune for the information." Kakashi says as Shizune briskly walks past him towards Lady Tsunade's office.

"Anytime, and good luck!" Blurts Shizune as she turns around the corner.

_This team really will be a challenge._


	2. Let it Begin

-Sakamoto POV-

"Mornin' Lin!" I yelled as I ran towards my friend. "You ready for training?"

She turned toward me with a slightly surprised look on her face, and a minute later her face spread into the mischievous grin that I knew so well.

"Yeah, I'm a little tired because I stayed up way too late last night, but I'm ready none the less." Lin replied as we turned off through another street.

"Hey! Lin, Sakamoto! Wait up!"

"Hey Kuri! Lin yelled backwards towards Kuroda, who had a massive smile on her face. Kuri was her nickname that we gave her.

_She's energetic as ever…._

"How do you guys get up so early?" Kuroda asked when she caught up. "I only woke up a few minutes ago and had to rush through my breakfast!"

We were walking through the streets of Konoha- talking quietly because most people were still asleep. Many of the shopkeepers were setting up shop and a few other early risers were walking around.

"Hey did anyone find out who our sensei is?" I asked as we started approaching one of the gates leading out of the village.

"No I didn't find out." Kuroda answered

"Me neither" Lin said, walking out of the gates and towards the training field, Kuroda and I following slowly behind. Lin had always been impatient.

"Guess it'll just have to be a surprise then." I sighed. The sun had just started glowing above the trees and it looked stunning. The thermals would soon start to rise from the ground and I couldn't wait to be soaring on them in the mid-day sun. We were walking onto the bright green grass on the training field and stood there waiting for our teacher.

"Should we talk tactics for training?" Lin asked, mainly because we had nothing better to do while we waited.

"Yeah. What about the usual set-up? Me in the sky, Kuri in the trees and you on the ground."

"I think that would work well, but Lin should go in first, followed by me and then you." Kuroda explained. "Lin can use a whole heap of tai-jutsu; I can use my sword, then you with jutsu and sword."

"That sounds great!" Lin exclaimed, "Also then, depending on the challenge set we can alter it according, while roughly keeping the same plan together. I'm guessing we'll have to use a lot of our skills together 'cause our sensei will actually be competent this time."

"Don't let Edo-sensei hear you say that, Lin." Kuroda warned.

_I can't wait to start training more! This sensei will probably be a lot harder than other sensei._

About 15 minutes later, a tall man with silver hair showed up. He had a mask covering most of his face and his leaf headband covering his left eye. _Wait, is this…_

"Hello, I am your temporary teacher, Hatake Kakashi. Please to meet you" says Kakashi smiling at us. I presume that you three are Komatsu Lin, Miharu Sakamoto and Michiyo Kuroda?

-Kakashi POV-

"Yeah" answered one of the girls. She has long dark brown hair that is pulled back into a ponytail, and a side fringe covering her right eye. She has bright amber eyes and a leaf headband over her forehead. She is wearing a light blue tank top with a black jacket that was zipped up halfway, slim dark blue pants with black ninja sandals and a small belt with a sword hanging off it. She also has a black, grey and white bracelet around her right wrist "But seriously, you can just call me Sakamoto-chan if you want."

"You can call me Lin-chan if you would like." Said another one of the girls. She has really long blonde hair that is in a ponytail that finished at her waist, her leaf headband on her forehead and she has blue green eyes. She is wearing long black, pants a khaki coloured t-shirt with a v neck, elbow length fingerless gloves and black shoes. She also has a blue and white bracelet around her right wrist.

"And I'm Kuroda, but I prefer Kuri, or Kuri-chan." The last of the girls has short black hair with red streaks through her fringe and dark brown eyes. She has a baggy yellow ¾ sleeve shirt with a black tank top underneath. She has a light green bracelet around her right wrist as well. Her pants are navy blue with a blue village headband around her waist; also she has a large sash around her waist with a sword hanging off it. _One of the seven legendary swords!_ It is narrow and long with a hole at the end. There was a line of thin wire wound around a reel stuck on her side.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sakamoto-chan, Lin-chan and Kuri-chan." I say to the three girls, "Sorry I was so late, I had to help an old lady carry her bags."

"Don't worry about it! We weren't waiting long!" Lin says, grinning at me. Her grin is infectious, and I had to smile back.

"YES WE WERE!" Kuroda yells at us, "WE WERE WAITING FOR HOURS!"

"Kuri." Sakamoto says sarcastically, facing Kuroda.

"Yeah?"

"It was only 15 minutes."

"Oh… Ok, sorry guys, sorry Kakashi-sensei." Kuroda says to Lin, Sakamoto and me with an ashamed look on her face.

"It's ok, don't worry about it!" I say smiling at Kuroda. She looked up and her face was suddenly lit up, as though my reassurance has made her day.

-Sakamoto POV-

"Okay so let's start training with a little test. You are to try and get these bells off me and you have until mid-day to do so. You can use weapons and any jutsu, if you don't come at me with intent to kill, you will fail." Kakashi explains when Kuri has slipped back into the way she normally acts.

"Okay." Lin, Kuri and I say together, it is so weird when we say things together.

"Alright then, you have until mid-day. GO!" Kakashi-sensei says, Kuri and Lin dash backwards into the forest, while I release my wings and soar upwards into the thermals and over the trees.

I fly around the tops of the trees, keeping an eye on Kakashi-sensei who is standing in the middle of the field. I can easily see every hair on his head from where I was. I wait for two key things. The first is waiting for him to lift his headband off, he is Kakashi of the Sharingan eye and he will surely use it in this training, the second was waiting for Lin to come out.

_There it is!_ Kakashi-sensei lifted up his headband and it is showing his red Sharingan eye.

_Be careful Lin…._

-Kakashi POV-

I knew that Lin and Kuri are in the trees somewhere and Sakamoto-chan is in the sky watching me, and possibly watching Kuri and Lin. _I wonder what they've planned…_ _huh? Who's that? Lin?_ Lin is walking out of the trees into the little clearing, near to where I'm standing.

"So you think that you're good enough to go straight off against me?" I ask Lin who had stopped walking and just stood there.

"Dunno. I figured that I should try at least." Lin answered as she got ready.

She suddenly jumped over me and dropped with her foot aimed at my head. Before her foot hit my head, I grabbed her foot and swung it to the side. Lin twisted out of my hand and placed her hands on the ground and swung her legs around at my lower body. I quickly jumped backwards and dodged her kick; I went back at her with a similar attack but at her arms as she got up. Lin launched herself up and landed a kick on my chest. I started skidding backwards, righting myself and stood there watching her.

I heard a stretching sound and found thin wire like string hanging around the trees. _Ah, Kuri's sword. I hadn't noticed her darting around getting ready, I was too busy with Lin. She sure was quick though._

Instead of hanging around here I made the hand signs for Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique and got away from my predicament.

-Sakamoto POV—

_Damn it! It was all going so well. I'll have to circle around and find Kakashi-sensei._ I drift around on the thermals, searching the ground and the trees for signs of life. Kuri and Lin are trying to find him too. A slight movement at the corner of my eye catches my attention, gotcha! _Now to lead him over to when Kuri is._

I quickly turn towards and drop silently to the silver haired sensei. I glide over the trees and come into his view in a tiny clearing.

"Found you", I say keeping just below the tree tops, I'm ready for a quick escape or a quick attach.

"Wow, you must have amazing eyesight", Kakashi-sensei says turning to face me, he looks totally calm but he is probably ready to move at any second.

"Right back at you Kakashi-sensei, you have the sharingan after all. Although we still have completely different eyes", I reply, steadily dropping lower to the ground, _I probably will have to fight him a bit, just to make it look normal._

I drop to the ground and tuck my wings together behind my back; I will need them soon so there's no use in retracting them now. I'll have to make this little fight quick, it's approaching midday fast.


	3. Short chapter! Through the trees

Thanks to the people who are reading my story!

-Sakamoto POV-

_Got to think fast, I have to get Kakashi-sensei over to where Kuri is. _I quickly make the hand signs for my own jutsu: dragon, horse, monkey, bird.

"Raining feathers!" I unfurl my wings and give them a massive swipe. Feathers rain down at an intense speed towards Kakashi-sensei; _he is easily going to dodge this._ Kakashi-sensei jumps to the side and dodges all of the feathers, so I jump up into a tree and fling one feather into his blind spot. He kept moving and notices the feather cutting through the air, he moves too slowly and the feather grazes his arm and rips his shirt.

I quickly jump from tree to tree towards Kuri, surely she would be wondering where I am_. I disappeared from her sight to get Kakashi back to where Lin was fighting him._ I flip around backwards and see him through the trees, blood dripping slightly from his arm. _I am so sorry Kakashi-sensei!_

-Kakashi POV-

_Sakamoto-chan is one smart shinobi, trying to get me in my blind spot. That was one amazing jutsu as well. She must have pooled a little bit of her chakra into each of the feathers to make them stronger. She must also have a wind style chakra like Naruto._

I follow behind Sakamoto-chan, after she clipped me with a shot, jumped off, and trying to get her bearings back. The cut on my shoulder is trickling slowly with blood; I hope that it is midday soon. I see Sakamoto do a backflip in the air and calculate how far I am behind. Landing on the next branch she stops and watches me intently.

While moving across through the trees, I throw a handful of shuriken that curve around behind the trees towards her back. Sakamoto swoops underneath the branch that she was standing on, dodging the shuriken easily. She rushes upwards and continues gliding through the trees effortlessly and I catch up to her, staying a little bit back in-case she pulls any tricks.

Very quickly she throws a whole heap of weapons, aimed quite well and missing by hairs. While I was distracted with the weapons, Sakamoto had flown into a clearing and back into the blue sky. I enter the field cautiously and spot a whole heap of clear wire hanging all around the field. _I guess I have to fight Kuri now._ I spot Kuri's figure standing in the middle of the field, a broad smile plastered on her face. She suddenly disappears from that spot and slashes her sword at me from behind.

* * *

Sorry for a short chapter! A lot is happening in the next one!

Kakashi: "It has to almost be midday by now!"

Sakamoto: "I hope that we can get the bells in time!"

Kuri: "Yeah of course we will!"

Lin: "Yeah!"

Look forward to the next chapter! Promise it will be a good one!

Please leave comments! I literally do a happy dance when I get them.


	4. A Little bit on Life

I promise that this chapter will be longer! Just going to put out a huge thanks to everyone who is watching my story! It is much appreciated!

Also, who is you favourite so far? Sakamoto, Kuri or Lin? I might put up a chapter about them, character bio and stuff.

-Kuri POV-

_Where is Sakamoto? She's taking forever!_ I have been waiting here for ages, waiting for Sakamoto and Kakashi-sensei to come. I hear rustling in the trees and Sakamoto swoops out into the clearing, she hesitates and smiles at me. Sakamoto also points a finger behind her; _he's right behind me_ she mouths and flaps upwards into the sky. She hops on a thermal and circles around the clearing.

More rustling comes from the trees and Kakashi-sensei jumps down onto the ground and standing on alert. I can't help but grin, I know time is almost up but I can't stop smiling! It's finally my time to take a hit at the amazing Kakashi-sensei!

I zip around behind him and swipe my sword at his back; he ducks at the last second and I twist around to face him again. Taking another shot he blocks it with a kunai. We are pushing against each other's weapons; I try as hard as I can but he is still stronger than me. In one movement I sweep to the side and out of the way from his weapon. I jump onto one of the many wires I placed around the field and pull my arm back with my sword in it. I launch my sword and watch the wire attached to it. As Kakashi-sensei darts to the side, my sword drifts past the bells attached to his belt, but it isn't enough to knock them off.

I tug the wire that is attached to the end of my sword and pull it hard so it zips back towards me. I launch it at Kakashi-sensei again, causing him to move to the side again. Gotcha_!_ Because Kakashi-sensei focused on dodging my sword, he didn't see the clear wire that he runs into.

Slowly he cuts himself free and I sneak a glance into the sky. _Huh? Where has Sakamoto gone?_ She had left my vision so I snap back to Kakashi-sensei; I pull on the clear thread and launch my sword at him once again. Kakashi-sensei struggles to dodge it but manages to cut himself free as the sword grazes his arm.

-Kakashi POV-

_Gosh these girls are good, two cuts on my arm and many close calls. No wonder they passed their old sensei._ I jump out of the bind I was in and hop a good distance away from Kuri, being careful not to get snagged again. _They must've planned this from the start. No wonder Sakamoto was moving through the trees and not always attacking me._

I focus more on Kuri's odd movements; she throws and pulls the sword and thread in awkward ways to get it to go in different directions. I analyse her movements and manage to find a slight pattern in her movements, there are different movements for different angles and speed. Now I dodge her attacks with ease so I turn onto the offensive.

I clasp my hands together into different hand signs until lightning is cracking from my hand. I run at Kuri at speed and dodge her attacks that are aimed at me. I flicker of panic crosses her face and she looks around to dodge my attack. I get close to her after she tried another attack and move in to hit her with my attack, but right before it hits a flash of brown passes and she has disappeared from where she was previously standing. The lightning also disappears from my hand and I turn to face where she had gone.

Three girls stand together ready to launch another attack, Sakamoto once again plunges into the sky, but a lot lower that she previously was, rather than gliding effortlessly, she has to occasionally flap her tawny coloured wings to stay up. Lin and Kuri both run at once and attack simultaneously, using each other to attack effectively. I manage to hold them off for a while but two-on-one is hard, I jump backwards away to get away from the flurry of attacks, rather than go after me, Lin and Kuri stand there puffing from exhaustion, _who wouldn't be tired after that?_

I get caught off guard as a sudden rush of wind nearly knocks me over, the bells at my waist tinkle and then go quiet. I look down at my waist and realise that they have been taken! Sakamoto stood there puffing a little with the bells dangling between two fingers, she then tosses them to Kuri and Lin which they catch and hold in the palms of their hands.

"Is training finished Kakashi-sensei?" Lin asks as she holds up her bell, her puffing subsiding slowly.

"Well, you managed to get the bells of me so I guess so!" I reply to the trio. Kuri has a massive smile growing on her face as she hears that.

"Yeah!" She yells while jumping in the air, _how can she manage to do that after she was exhausted a second ago?_ That burst comes back to bite her as she nearly topples over, Sakamoto grabs her and holds her off while laughing.

"I think we should go and some lunch then, we need to get our energy back, also so that you don't nearly fall over again!" Sakamoto says, still laughing. We all head back off the field back to the village. Sakamoto moves in between Kuri and Lin to help them get back, even though she is tired herself. By the time we get back at the village, Kuri and Lin are walking normally again without Sakamoto's help.

We are all about to go our separate ways when I hear someone yell out: 'Kakashi-sensei' from behind us. I turn around and Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato are walking towards us, just coming back from a mission.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Yamato. How did the mission go?"

"It was super easy!" Naruto exclaims, "Why can't I get put on a harder mission? Huh? Who are they Kakashi-sensei?" He asks, pointing to Lin, Kuri and Sakamoto standing a few metres behind me.

"This is the cell I was out training with today. This is Lin, Kuri and Sakamoto." I point to each of them respectively. They reply with a 'hi' and a slight wave to them. I also introduce them to Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato.

"Uh, sorry but I've got to go see someone, I'll see you guys later!" Sakamoto says walking towards the Hokage's mansion. Everyone says 'bye' and she jogs off. Everyone else then parts and Yamato goes to the Hokage's mansion to give a mission report.

-Sakamoto POV-

I jog off towards the Hokage's mansion to see if there is a message they want me to deliver to the sand village. My job for years has been to deliver mail from the leaf village to the sand village and vice-versa. Because birds can only carry a little amount of mail, it would take long time for mail to reach people, so being a ninja who can fly; I got the job to transport mail, whether it be parcels, general mail or top secret documents. I do it in between my main missions as a job, I do get paid for doing the errands, although it isn't really the reason I do it. I love to see the happy faces of people when they receive mail; the money is just an extra bonus.

I get to the message centre at the top of the mansion; it is filled with messenger birds today.

"Is there anything for me to do today?" I ask one of the men in charge as he is tending to a bird.

"No, there isn't anything for you to deliver today." He replies facing me and giving me a smile. He is so nice to me, I remember when I first started delivering mail, I would stand at the doorway, half hiding and I would wait for him to see me. Now I am a lot older and braver than I used to be.

"Ok, see you later then!" I say, giving him a smile and jumping off the roof. I soar down the side and just over the tree tops. I fly over the people walking below, seeing everything below, every little detail with my eagle-eyes. Literally.

I beat my wings to get higher and turn off towards my apartment. Having the top floor has the pros and the cons. It is great for jumping off and getting somewhere, also being able to fly onto the balcony and get out that way is good, but Kuri and Lin hate having to climb all of the stairs to get to my apartment.

I land on my balcony and open the doors and step into my room. I take my weapon bags and other tools off and walk into the kitchen to grab myself a drink of water. I end up drinking five glasses of water and eating some lunch. _I still have the rest of the day! It feels like it should be later than lunchtime._ I get up and walk across my room, then flop onto the bed to rest for a while. I turn onto my side and my eyes lock onto a book on my bedside table. _Oh yeah, I finished that book, I'll go to the library a little later and return it._

I grab the book and put it into a little backpack, along with a drink bottle and my wallet. Rather than flying to the library, I decide to walk there. I close the doors to the balcony and lock the main door on my way out. I start walking down the stairs and pass a few other people on the way down, we exchange 'hellos' and I have a short conversation with a few. I reach the bottom of the stairs and I walk through streets with other apartment blocks and small shops. Soon I reach the main street and it is bustling with people. Shops are busy and children are playing in the street on this lovely day. I don't need to rush too much so I take my time, sucking in this lovely atmosphere.

I reach the turnoff for the library and manoeuvre through busy shoppers and get onto the semi-empty road. It is oddly silent on this road compared to the main road. Not as many people are walking along here, but some of the noise from the other road flows down onto this road.

The library is near the centre of the city, it's not as big as the archive library, but it isn't small either. I walk in through the entrance and drop my book off at the desk.

"Thank-you", the lady as the desk says as she scans it and puts it on a trolley with other books.

"It's ok", I reply walking away. _I need another book to read now._

I look through the wall of books, looking for something interesting to read. I pick up and interesting mystery and a fantasy before moving onto the non-fiction. In the middle of the library is a reading area, it has a few tables with chairs and a few people were seated and reading. Others were chatting quietly to one another. I spot someone familiar sitting at one of the tables, _Sai, that's his name!_ From where I was I couldn't tell what he was reading but I kept walking to the non-fiction books. He looked up from his book for a second and caught my gaze, I smiled and waved; he smiled back and went back to reading his book. His smile seemed fake, but it was still a nice smile.

I pick up a few books on animals, quite a few on eagles. I must have read every book on eagles in this library, and the library in the sand village, but I still read them over and over again. It's like how if I see an eagle in the sky, I try and fly with it. Lots of them trust me because I'm up in the sky so much; Lin once commented that I was more bird than human.

I borrow out the books and head home again. I must have been in the library for around 40 minutes. I have been known to be in there for hours sometimes.

I walk back out onto the street and rather than walking straight home, I stop at a few shops to get food and other things that I need. The shops aren't as busy as 40 minutes ago, but there are still people around, doing shopping or just chatting in the street.

With bags in both hands I head back up to apartment to read my books.


	5. To the Sand Village!

Hi!

From now on, this story is going to be mainly Sakamoto's POV because this is a story that two of my friends and I are writing. So Kuri and Lin and two of my other friends that. Have. Never. Met. Each other.

Also, you may have noticed that I stopped putting the –chan on the ends of names of Sakamoto, Lin and Kuri and everyone else. I just don't think that it sounds right so I will go and edit the previous chapters to suit this. Sorry if it annoys anyone, if you REALLY want the horrific on the end of all the names I will add it back on.

Anyway enjoy!

* * *

-Sakamoto POV—

I wake up as early as I usually do every morning, which is very early, and I go over to the balcony doors and pull open the thin, white curtains. The pre-glow of the sun has just started to illuminate the houses in the large village. Everything has begun to wake up.

Today there are a few messages for me to deliver to the sand village, all of them are just general letters, but one is for the Kazekage. I want to get going early, just like I always have, so I grab my clothes and get changed in the bathroom. I also clean my teeth; brush my hair and pull it into a ponytail. I pack my hairbrush and toothbrush in a bag, and put it in my main pack along with two drink bottles and some food for the days I'll be away.

I set off down the stairs after locking up my apartment because I want to save my energy for the long flight ahead. At this time of morning, all of the streets are empty; everyone is either asleep or getting ready inside for the working day. I suddenly hear running footsteps behind me; I turn around and see Kuri running towards me.

"What are you doing Kuri?" I ask as she slows down and walks beside me.

"I was trying to catch you before you left", she puffs from running, "I wanted to know if I could come with you to the hidden sand village. I've never been there before." I had no idea that she was going to say that. It would be quite hard to carry her all the way there but… I guess I could manage it.

"Ok, but you know that we will be in the air for ages, plus you just have to sit on my back for a long time."

"Yeah ok, so I can come?" She replies with a light shining in her eyes.

"Yes you can come. But you need to pack you toiletries and stuff like that. We will be away for two nights at most, possibly three. Also take a few water bottles and some food for the journey, enough to get you there and back. We will eat there so don't bring too much." I explain.

"Ok, got it. Can you check through my stuff before we go, just to make sure I don't forget anything? You know how I am!" Kuri says laughing a little.

"Yeah, sure. You go back and pack, I'll pick you up in 15 minutes ok?" I ask starting to head off towards the Hokage's mansion.

"Yep! See you then!" She replies, running back to her own apartment while I walk off down the street.

When I get to the Hokage's mansion, I first go to the top and collect the general mail and put it in my bag. After it's all in my bag I walk down the steps, but I'm stopped partway down.

"So you're not flying off today?"

"No, I'm taking a friend with me so I'm going to her house to make sure she has packed everything she needs, I also have to get an important letter from Lady Tsunade to give to the Kazekage."

"Ok then, see you then!"

"Bye!"

I go back to walking down the steps to the Hokage's office. I knock on the door until I hear her call me in.

"Good morning Lady Tsunade, you had a letter for me to deliver?" I ask politely closing the door behind me. I walk towards her and stop a metre away from her desk.

"Yes Sakamoto, this is to be delivered straight to the Kazekage", she says and hands me a sealed envelope which I put in a special pocket in my backpack.

"Thank-you Lady Tsunade, I will deliver this letter without fail", I reply while putting the backpack on my shoulders and tightening the straps.

"Good, you can go now Sakamoto", she says turning her chair around and looking out the window.

I leave silently and close the door behind me. I pass a few other ninjas doing work in the building and make my way back to Kuri's house. By now people are outside and cleaning their shops and setting up for the day, some people smile and wave, so I do the same. I pass my apartment and take a few other streets to Kuri's house. She lives on the third floor of apartment levels so I quickly get up the stairs. I wait outside her door and knock a few times before I hear her call my name and tell me to come inside.

She sat on her bed putting her shoes on, her pack sitting next to her on the bed.

"Do you want me to check through your pack?" I ask walking over and sitting on the end of her bed.

"If you wouldn't mind, I think that I've got everything you said to pack." She replies handing me her bag.

I rummage through her bad, trying my best not to mess up her things. _Toiletries, two water bottles, a few snacks, everything here._

"You've got everything you need!" I say smiling and zipping her bag back up, I hand it to her and stand up.

"Ok, I'm ready to go, let's go!" She replies enthusiastically, jumping of her bed and running out the door. "Hurry up Sakamoto!"

I admire her for wanting to get going; she must be so excited about going to the sand. We walk downstairs, I swear, if the wasn't there, she would have jumped straight down.

"We have to get out and away from the village and make sure no one is following us ok?" I ask as we turn down and step down more stairs.

"Uh huh, are you sure that you're going to be able to carry me all the way there?" She says, the excitement drained from her voice and instead, filled with concern.

"Yeah, you just have to do as I say ok? Just so you don't go tumbling off my back or I don't get hurt." I instruct her as we leave the building. The sun has just risen above the trees and is painting the tops of buildings in a bright yellow. We exit the village through the main gate and break off into a run until I lead us to a large clearing.

"Ok, I'm going to carry you in a piggy back style until I get high enough and straighten out, then you can sit on my lower back, holding onto my backpack", I say pointing to the direction that we're heading in.

"Yay! Take-off time!" Kuri shouts jumping on my back, nearly knocking me over.

"Kuri, we're not going anywhere until I can get my wings out!" I shout back. She gets off my back and I throw my backpack off.

"Sorry Saki, I forgot!" Kuri says, she is such a scatterbrain sometimes…

Once my wings are out and my backpack is back on, she jumps back on my back and I hold her legs. _This is going to be such a hard flight._ I take a long run up across the clearing, flapping my wings as hard I can. Finally getting some lift, we just manage to get over the trees and into the sky. I have to flap harder than I usually do to get high and maintain it. Usually I can fly for hours without flapping at all, but because I am carrying just under double the weight than usual, I have to flap every now and again to stay as high as required.

"You can sit up now Kuri!" I shout backwards, I let go of her legs and she sits cross legged on my back. It's not as comfortable as I would have liked it to be, but I'll just have to put up with it. I scan the area for any other ninjas spying on us from the trees. With my modified eyes I can see every strand of grass on the ground, great for spotting the tiniest of details that are wrong in a peaceful area like this.

Throughout the day, we stay pretty silent, aside when I talked to her about how Lin would freak out when she might not be able to find you in the village.

"Don't worry, I left her a not saying that we had gone to the sand, I didn't want to wake her up."

When Kuri saw the golden sand in the distance, she screamed and hyped up. I had seen the sand for ages, but I didn't want to ruin the fun for her, she sounds so happy. We had been passing over trees, and then rocks for ages, so seeing the sand meant that we only had to pass over it to get to the hidden sand village. It was around lunchtime, so it was quite hot going over the sand, but there are epic thermals to glide on, because the thermals are so great going over sand, I don't have to flap my giant wing as much.

I begin to see the outline of the sand village in the distance which means our journey is nearly over. By foot this distance would have taken much longer, but going by air it is clear and quicker.

"Hey Kuri, I can see the village in the distance! We're nearly there!" I shout, she immediately tries to see it herself.

"I can't see it!" She shouts back, trying her best to see the village in the distance. "I wish I had your eyes, because then I could see everything!"

I laugh at her comment and I try to fly faster although my wings are already taking a lot of strain as it is, carrying extra weight. I have carried Kuri and Lin in missions before, but it wasn't for very long, plus I was already in the air which made it easier. I also helped people in the village with carrying things to other people, but they were never as heavy as a person!

"I can see it, I can see it!" She suddenly yells as the village becomes clearer and clearer in the distance until I can make out the large entrance. As Kuri and I can see the details of the village, I tell her to get back into the piggy back so I can land. We land right outside the gate; I almost fall over from the weight on my back. She jumps of my back and I can see her trying to contain her excitement. She looking everywhere at once, trying to see everything and take everything in to remember.

I say hi to the ninjas patrolling the outside, they let me and Kuri in when they see my massive wings that I fold up on my back. We walk through the massive walls; Kuri just walks with her mouth open as she stares at the village itself. The sand village is so massive, with all the main streets meeting at the centre where the Kazekage's office is.

We walk down the street in front of us and many people say hi to me, lots of them know me here, because I come here so often. Luckily we are great friends with the sand village so everyone is nice anyway.

"Sakamoto!" Someone shouts, I turn around and see Temari standing there. "Looks like you brought a friend this time!"

"Hey Temari, this is Kuri from my cell." I say, Kuri smiles and says hi to Temari. I became friends with Temari when I had to give her a lot of mail for the exams being held back at the leaf village. We started to talk and soon became friends; I'm also friends with her siblings, Gaara and Kankuro.

"You heading to the Kazekage?" She asks

"Yeah, I have an important letter to give him"

"I'm going back there myself", Temari replies as we start to walk. Temari tells us about what had been going on in the sand village; Kuri was silent for a while but then began joining in the conversation. We talk about our recent missions and news floating around the village. In no time at all we reach the Kazekage's office.

I have never seen Kuri's eyes get so wide.

Inside the building is a lot cooler that outside, Temari is heading somewhere else inside the building so we say bye to her and I lead Kuri to the Kazekage's office. She seems nervous, meeting a Kage from another village the first time she visits. I knock on the door a few times and I hear Gaara call me in.

"Hello Sakamoto", he pauses for a second when he sees Kuri next to me.

"Ah, this is Kuri, she is in my cell", I say quickly to fill the silence. Kuri looks a little stunned at how young the Kazekage is. "I have a letter for you from Lady Tsunade." I get the letter out of my bag and hand it to Gaara. He opens the envelope and read for a few seconds before putting it down.

"Thank-you Sakamoto, how long will you be staying for this time?" Gaara asks, obviously realising that its Kuri's first time in the sand village.

"Just tonight, although we might leave a little later tomorrow, Kuri wants to have a look around the village" I reply facing Kuri, her face turning ever so slightly pink.

"Ok, I shall have a room prepared for you and Kuri."

"Thank you Gaara." I reply, "I better go and get this mail out, see you later!" I say, leaving the room with Kuri right behind me. I close the door and we walk a little bit before Kuri talks.

"I didn't know that the Kazekage is so young!" Kuri exclaims

"Yeah, he's my age, 16." I reply looking at her shocked face when I say those words.

"Really! Wow!"

"Anyway, I gotta go and drop this mail off, come on!"

* * *

Yeah, I've been writing a lot recently, mainly because it's the holidays and I have nothing to do in the late afternoons! So I may as well write this story. This may seem stupid but this is my record for the longest story I've ever written! 5 chapters! Yay me! This is a special achievement for me, probably not one to anyone else.

Sorry for that stupid stuff

Razz (1/2 of TheBlackRosete)

(Please leave comments, I really love them! Plus when I get them I literally do a happy dance!)


	6. Something in Their Eyes

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I took forever to finish writing this story. Please, if anyone wants me to write faster, just send a message. Comments/messages usually make me write faster.

Thank-you for everyone who has read this far, I really appreciate it!:)

This chapter is a little shorter,I just really wanted to get it up.

Enjoy,

Razz

* * *

-Sakamoto POV-

The sun is setting on the golden sand; the heat is lingering from absorbing the heat from the day. After dropping the mail off at the distribution centre, Kuri and I set back off to where we were staying the night. Gaara had invited us to have dinner with him and his siblings which is a great honour. Kuri seems especially excited; it's her first time in the sand and she is already friends with the Kazekage. Who wouldn't be excited?

We enter the large eating room and Gaara greets us as we walk in. He gets up and shows up where we are sitting, next to each other on one side of the table. Kankuro and Temari walk in soon after us and sit on the opposite side to us. Gaara is sitting on the end near us and we start having small conversations.

"What do you use most as a ninja? Jutsu, Taijutsu or weapons?" Temari asks Kuri

"Uh, I use a sword, one of the seven swords from the mist village." Kuri replies

"Huh, how did you get one of the seven swords?" Kankuro asks, suddenly looking interested in the conversation. _Now begins the long back story. _

Kuri begins telling the sand siblings about her long journey to the hidden leaf village. Her hard times at the mist village and getting one of the swords, I still can't believe how young she was when all of this happened. _Although, I was even younger when… I don't want to think about that._ I start to think of a date that is coming up for me, in another few weeks it is my parent's anniversary. I don't remember my parents but I have pictures of them and I was told about what happened that day…

My attention moves when plates of food are being placed in front of each of us. A piece of white meat, probably chicken, and various other vegetables are arranged on a white plate. It all smells so wonderful; I can't believe that Gaara and his siblings would have something like this every night!

Although some things aren't so good when you're Kazekage. Gaara was taken by the Akatsuki not too long ago. The whole sand village was in panic and they were all so upset.

We all start to eat our food, it tastes so good! Back at the leaf village, I never eat a meal as grand as this. The flavours are so different from what we have at the leaf, everything has a different flavour. I look at Kuri; she must be enjoying the food by the look on her face. I guess she hasn't eaten anything like this before; everything is so new for her.

Everyone finishes their meal and Kuri sits back satisfied and full.

"Thank-you so much for the meal Gaara, it was so good!" I say siting back in my chair, "Although, I hate to eat and run but we have to be leaving soon."

"What! But we haven't been here for very long!" Kuri exclaims

"We have to get back because we have training tomorrow afternoon and we need to get some rest before then." I reply to her as she almost begins to sulk.

"Are you sure you can't stay any longer?" Gaara asks me, almost looking past to Kuri. _Ah, I see what's going on._

"Don't worry, we will visit the sand more times, I'm sure that Kuri wants to come here again." I say smiling a little. I glance at Kuri and Gaara; they both seem to be looking at each other quite a bit. I catch Temari's eye and smile; she knows what's going on too.

After a few more small conversations, Kuri and I prepare to go. Temari filled up out drink bottles for us while we put our jackets on. Although the day may be super-hot, the nights can be quite cold.

After everything is ready, Kuri and I take off the roof and circle around a bit, shouting out goodbyes and heaps of waving. Then I bank left and we head out into the dessert. Because the sun has gone down and the heat has been sucked out of the air, I have to flap my wings heaps to stay high in the air. It is so much harder at night, but I really want to get back to the village for training.

As we continue throughout the night, I become slightly slower as time passes. The strain on my wings is noticeable; carrying double the load without thermals is quite a challenge. Nevertheless, we continue on back to the village in the darkness. Another thing about the night is I can't see as well as I can during the day. My eyes can usually see every little detail from far away, but at night they see the same as anyone else's. Not everything can be perfect.

"Argh, this night thing is taking forever! Why couldn't we just stay at the sand village until the morning?" Kuri groans

"Because we have training tomorrow and I want to become better! Also because I want to make Gaara want you more." I say cheekily

"What do you mean!?" She says hastily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You two are so into each other! Temari noticed, just the way you two were looking at each other, there was so something going on!" I reply, I know I'm right; she may deny it, but Temari and I know what's going on.

"N-nothing's going on between us! Plus, I was not looking at him in that way, you should get your eyes checked!" Kuri blurts, adding to the proof that something was going on, I think that she realises this and uncrosses her arms. She knows when she's beaten in conversation.

_My wings feel like they're on fire! I've been flying non-stop all night with no thermals, plus an extra load on my back. It's making me stronger in a way, but I must remind myself never to do this again!_ Dawn is approaching the horizon because the sky is becoming noticeably lighter. We are approaching the trees, which means we are nearly back. After a whole night of flying in the cold air, my wings are tired and about to fall off.

We soar over trees as the sun makes an appearance in the sky, shedding light on the land below. Now that there is some light, my eagle-eyes can work well again, spotting every mouse that is scurrying in the grass for breakfast.

I soar down to the ground and we land in another clearing near the village, Kuri jumps off my back and we continue on land. Travelling by air is way quicker that going by ground, but my wings were not going to make it all the way to the village. I keep my wings folded against my back in case of any random occurrences, also because I can't be bothered retracting them right now. Although my wings are half-dead, the rest of my body is still quite fresh, other that my stomach muscles everything is still at almost 100%.

We come to the main entrance of the village and slow down to a walk.

"I'm glad to be back! Not that I don't really like the sand, this is home, that's all." I say to Kuri as she has a drink from her water bottle.

"The sand was awesome! It was so beautiful and grand and all the people are really nice!" Kuri replies, making wild hand gestures and smiling her classic smile.

"You also got it going with Gaara!" I say teasingly, she pulls a face at me, she just can't deny it anymore. "Hey Kuri, is that Sakura over there?" I point in the general direction where a girl was buying something from a stall.

"Uh, yeah I think so! I don't know any other girls with pink hair in the village."

"Come on, let's go and say hi!" I say running towards her, I know its Sakura, I can see her face from here and it's definitely her.

"Hey Sakura!" Kuri and I shout together, she turns her head and smiles back at us. We slow down to a walk when we get close to her.

"Have you just been out on a mission?" Sakura asks, facing us with shopping bags in her arms.

"Sort of, I have a mailing job where I deliver mail to the sand, sometimes other places but mostly the sand and Kuri came along with me." I reply

"Oh wow, you go to the sand often then?" Sakura asks

"Yeah, just in between missions and stuff."

"We had to get back because we have a little bit of training with Kakashi-sensei today." Kuri explains

"Won't you be tired? You just went to the sand and back!"

"Nah not really, I just sat on Sakamoto's back while she flew all the way there!" Kuri says laughing and pointing at my back, my wings are slightly visible to Sakura; it's hard to hide huge wings on a person.

"Wow, that's amazing! It must be so much easier for you to do so many things!" Sakura exclaims with a broad smile on her face.

"Yeah I guess, although sometimes they can be a little annoying." I reply

"Really? I would have thought they would be really cool!" She replies, looking shocked at my comment.

"Yeah they are, but if they get injured, I can't retract them, I have to wait for them to heal. They heal quite quickly, but it can be annoying sometimes."

"Well if you ever need any help, just ask me ok? You too Kuri, and tell Lin too, I don't mind helping." Sakura says

"Sure!"

"Ok!"

"Alright, well I'll have to talk to you later, I've got some stuff to do" She replies, turning around slightly, preparing to move off.

"Ok, see you later!" I say, waving as she walks off. Kuri also waves and we walk off to the right towards her apartment. "Sakura is so awesome!"

"Yeah I know! She's really smart too!" Kuri exclaims

"Hey, I'm going to head down here back to my apartment."

"Oh, ok see you later at training!" Kuri replies smiling and waving at me. I break into a jog and turn around to face her.

"Don't be late ok?" I shout back to her, if she isn't reminded every second of the day, she is sure to forget.

"Yeah ok!" She replies waving at me and turning to her apartment. I turn back to where I'm running and slip through small streets. Not many people are walking along them at this time of day; it's still early and many people are in bed, plus many people prefer to use the main streets as they are often more direct and you can't get lost.

Many of the streets have apartments or small stores; some are just stacked with empty boxes and crates. Many people prefer to live here because it's really quite. It's almost dead for most of the day.

I reach the street near my apartment and walk in through the front door. Nobody's around at the moment, most of the people that live in this apartment are a part of a cell, everyone has different abilities. You learn different things from watching and learning from different people.

I climb the stairs to my room, I don't pass anyone on my way up but I can hear people moving around in their rooms. Probably getting ready for a mission or training, I've just come back from one and I have more training later. I have a few hours to recover and to get ready, not perfect but it's something.

* * *

Sorry for the lamo ending to this chapter, I wanted to save something for the next chapter.

Training! Yay! -_- I still have no idea what I'm writing for it yet. -_-'

I will try write faster I have lots of work to do at school and I have cycling every other minute so I will write when I can.

:)


	7. Training

Sorry that this took so long! -_-; I have made an adjustment to the story, now Sakamoto is part hawk instead of part eagle. I'm changing the previous chapters to suit this.

Once again, I am so sorry that this chapter took months to get posted, I forgot about it for a long time.

**-This is just a teaser or what's coming later, I just wanted everyone to know that this is being continued! So this is just the start of the chapter and the rest will hopefully be coming soon!-**

* * *

I must have been crazy when I decided to do training with Kakashi-sensei, right after I came back from a mailing run to the sand with another person on-board. Hopefully the training won't be too hard, I would rather not die from over exerting myself.

While climbing up the last flight of stairs I scull the last of the water in my bottle. I skip the last three stairs and jump onto the hard floor and unlock the door to my apartment. _Damn I have got to clean up this mess._

MY type of messy is having an un-made bed and a few things lying around, compared to Kuri's room, mine is always tidy; her apartment room is unbelievably messy. Lin is the same as me; we always have tidy rooms, although even Lin's can get very messy sometimes. I don't have many possessions so my apartment can never really get messy; I never really owned anything until I was 6 which was a big thing for me.

Instead of tidying my room, I lock my front door and grab a book off my bedside table. I slide my curtains open and unlock my balcony door before opening it and jumping of the balcony.

I feel the slight tug of the warm thermals trying to push me upwards; luckily the push isn't that hard because it is still early in the day.

"Hey Sakamoto!" someone yells from below. I stop flying forwards and just hover in the spot looking down for whoever called my name. I see an arm waving around and a broad smile on her face. I dive down with my wings flat against my back aiming for her. I unfurl them at the last second and flap them until I land carefully on the ground next to her.

"How's it going Lin?" I ask with a smile on my face, Lin's face is priceless at the moment.

"I swear, I'm never going to get used to that but yeah, I'm great thanks. How did your mission go?"

"It went great, sorry about leaving you here while we went off to deliver mail", I say to Lin as I fold up my wings and press them to my back.

"No it's fine, I went and did some training and read a bit. Where are you heading?" Lin asks. I hold up my book

"I'm going to the library for a bit, I want a bit of down time before training later."

"Oh! I'm heading there too! I'm just going to return a book and then just hang around for a bit",


End file.
